COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The Johns Hopkins water polo team dropped a pair of tough matches to top-10 Division III teams at the Air Force Rare Air Challenge.
 
Hopkins opened the day against top-ranked Redlands, falling to the Bulldogs, 20-15. Redlands jumped out to a 2-0 lead before junior Ian Raley got JHU on the board at 5:33. The Bulldogs answered with two goals in just 61 seconds to go up 4-1 midway through the first. An Owen Bartlett goal pulled the Blue Jays back within two, but Redlands responded with a 7-1 run to push out to an 11-3 lead with 4:53 to play in the second.
 
Senior Seth Berke halted the run with a strike at 2:20, but Redlands responded with a 4-1 spurt and the lead was 15-5 with 5:30 to play in the third. Sophomore Daniel Palfi then scored a six-on-five goal to spark a 4-1 Blue Jay run that trimmed the deficit to seven at the end of the third. The teams traded goals over a three-minute stint to open the fourth and it was 18-11. Back-to-back Redlands' goals pushed its lead to nine with 3:34 to play. Hopkins then rattled off four straight to pull within five, but with just 10 seconds on the clock.
 
JHU wrapped up its trip to Colorado with a tough 14-13 loss to fourth-ranked Cal Lutheran. Raley opened the scoring less than two minutes in, but Cal Lu answered with three in a row to go up 3-1 midway through the first. Hopkins answered with a 3-1 run, fueled by a pair of goals from sophomore Gavin Brooke and it was a 4-4 game late in the second quarter.
 
Jack Bradbury put the Kingsmen on top, but back-to-back Owen Bartlett goals swung the lead back to the Blue Jays at the half. Cal Lutheran opened the third with three straight goals to take an 8-6 lead. But goals from freshman Max Blecher and Bartlett knotted the score at eight with 3:35 to go in the quarter. Zachary Isaac put the Kingsmen back on top with a man-up goal, but a pair of Raley strikes gave the Blue Jays a 10-9 lead after three.
 
The teams then swapped scores over a three-minute span midway through the fourth quarter and it was 13-13. Cormac Flanders broke the tie, and put Cal Lutheran on top, with a man-up goal with 42 ticks on the clock. That would prove to be the game-winner as the Blue Jays couldn't get the equalizer.
 
Bartlett led the Blue Jays with three goals and four points versus Redlands. Brooke, Palfi and sophomore Jason Mihalopoulos each had two-goal games versus the Bulldogs. Raley (1g, 2a) and junior Chris Lo (1g, 1a) also had multi-point games.
 
Bartlett again led Hopkins with four goals and five points against Cal Lutheran. Freshman Ethan Babel matched Bartlett's five points with two goals and three assists. Raley added a four-point outing (3g, 1a) while Mihalopoulos (2a), Blecher (2g), Brooke (2g, 1a) and freshman Alec Baker (2a) also had multi-point games. Graduate student Saahil Naik made seven saves in the cage.
 
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, September 9 as the Blue Jays will take on Salem and Mercyhurst in Salem, WV.